Woodroffe Benton House

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. People and their relatives had opportunities to give their views and opinions during meetings with staff and management. They were kept up to date with the events within the service through a social media page and the newsletters. Where possible, people and/or their relatives were involved in designing their care and support through care plan reviews. A staff member told us, “We sit down with some people, print a care plan, and discuss with them, how they want to be supported. Family also get included." People’s relatives were kept up to date with their care or if an incident or accident had occurred. The registered manager told us how they had included people in the forthcoming refurbishment of the service and people had requested for ‘seaside’ colours to be incorporated in the upgrade. People’s diverse needs and faith had been considered, different religious services were held for people to practice their faith as they chose.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. People, their relatives and staff told us they felt the service was well-led. They told us when they had a complaint or suggestion they were listened to. A relative told us about an ongoing concern regarding missing laundry, they said, “I complained to the deputy manager and they found them straight away.” Staff told us they could speak with the management team and their ideas were listened to. A staff member said, “Here, the activities have their own manager and departments. I have poked my nose in and gave some suggestions, I thought it would benefit them (people) here, such as bringing in the animals. I heard [registered manager] making calls so hopefully we should have the animals in here soon too.” The registered manager was supported by 3 deputy managers and the nominated individual. Meetings were held with managers of departments where audit findings and ideas were discussed, outcomes of the meetings named a person responsible of the implementation and a date for the completion.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they were able to speak up confidently. The management team and the team of directors ensured staff could contact them to speak up. A staff member told us, “For me it is okay, management is really supportive, any issue we can straight away go to the management and tell them, especially the deputy managers.” The provider’s policies were clear for staff to follow and speak up if they had concerns.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff told us the management team listened to them and they felt valued. There had been a higher turnover of staff and some staff were new to the service, staff described their induction and introduction to working at Woodroffe Benton House to be relaxed with time to get to know people and other staff. A staff member said, “I am enjoying meeting new residents and new colleagues. There are new ways of planning things. I am still learning the ways of the home, its fabulous.” There was a diverse workforce, staff had various backgrounds and were from different countries. A staff member told us a meeting was held for staff working on sponsorship to ensure they felt fully supported. Where needed, risk assessments were completed to enable staff members to work safely, for example, a staff member had a risk assessment in place due to pregnancy which was regularly reviewed with them.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. Improvements had been made to the governance and managerial oversight of the service. There were a range of quality monitoring processes in place which were effective in identifying shortfalls. Audits and checks were conducted by managers of departments and the registered manager, findings and were added to the overall action plan, actions were followed up to check on progress.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners or collaborate for improvement, however, information was not always shared in a seamless and timely way. Staff and managers told us about positive working relationships with health and social care professionals, we saw referrals has been made appropriately and professional advice was updated in people’s care records for staff to follow. Health and social care professionals gave mixed feedback about the service, comments included, “I often have difficulty speaking with a member of the team. I leave messages and even send emails requesting call backs. These requests are rarely responded to, and I find myself having to chase this up.” And, “The new management team have been very responsive to feedback and have engaged with our team to try and make changes to improve our ability to deliver health care in the home. We have seen fewer safeguarding referrals relating to medication errors over the last few months.” The registered manager shared they had worked on improving communication with professionals and would look at other options to further develop this.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. Actions from audits continued to drive improvements, tools and templates were used from partners in care, for example, the Kings Fund audit tool identified where additional improvements could be made to the environment for people living with dementia. A staff member spoke about actions from the last CQC inspection and told us, “I think changes have been for the better since the last inspection.” The registered manager kept their skills up to date, they belonged to local forums to support and receive support from other local registered managers. The registered manager researched a new system for medicines and reached out to local care home to understand the day to day workings of the system. The registered manager spoke of pilots they were part of, including an NHS dental service, they said how this had had a positive impact on people’s oral health and food intake.